Hugely popular Devon horse trainer Richard Woollacott took his life after discovering a series of Facebook messages to his wife, an inquest has heard.

The BBC has reported that Mr Woollacott hanged himself in his barn after finding a series of 'sexual' texts to his wife Kayley.

The region’s racing community was left shocked and saddened when the 40-year-old was found dead by his family in Rose Ash, near South Molton on January 22 2018.

At an inquest at County Hall in Exeter today the assistant coroner Alison Longhorn recorded a verdict of suicide.

Alongside the messages found three weeks prior, he had also been struggling with depression and the pressures of work.

After being found by his mother Carol and sister Marie, his sister cut him down and trued to resuscitate him but he was soon declared dead.

It was his sister who revealed to the inquest that he had found sexual texts between Kayley, who he married in 2013, and an unnamed jockey.

Trainer Kayley Woollacott kisses Bang On Time during a Gallop at Richard's stable in South Molton (Image: Harry Trump)

The inquest heard: "Richard sacked the jockey and said the relationship [with his wife] was over, but he later found messages on an iPad saying the relationship was continuing. He was hurt and humiliated."

At the inquest, his wife described the marriage as "volatile" and told the inquest they had started marriage counselling and added: "Cash was tight and the work pressure was enormous."

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“He was his own worst enemy in a lot of ways. He was always looking for the bigger and wanted to be that bit better, but in actual fact he’s had two Grade Two winners with very limited budgets and what he has achieved is massive, but he just couldn’t see it. He should have been incredibly proud of everything that he had done, but he wasn’t.

Trainer, Richard Woollacott. (Image: Phil Mingo/Pinnacle)

“He was a very up and down person anyway, without the pressures of the job. One day he could be the busiest person and a complete slave driver, and then there would be days where you couldn’t really get him to do anything.

“It was there when I met him,” she says. “He told me after a few months of being together that he got very up and down, and that he had been to the doctors about it. I always just thought we would manage it.

“Some days it was worse than others, but he would very quickly come out the other side. He might have a horrendous few days, but then he’d be back to his normal self again."

Woollacott began training point-to-point horses in 2005, saddling over 130 winners, and he was also a keen rider in that sphere, claiming over 100 victories.

He was crowned champion point-to-point rider in Britain in 2010, as well as taking the regional title for Devon and Cornwall on multiple occasions.

Woollacott then switched his attention to training under rules, taking out his licence in June 2012 before saddling 16 winners in the 2012/13 campaign.

He sent out 24 winners in the following three seasons, but enjoyed a breakthrough moment at last year’s Grand National meeting at Aintree as Lalor sprang a 33-1 shock in the Grade Two bumper in a campaign that yielded 13 winners.

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